13C26 Sandvik Steel?

[Airsoftgun99]

What exactly is it (and what is it made out of)? Also, how is it compared to 420HC? For the Buck Vantage Select Small, it has 420HC.The Vantage Avid has this 13C26 Sandvik Steel. Its an 8 dollar difference (big deal). Any help

 

[9blades]

Here's the composition. C: 0.68; Cr: 13.00; Mn: 0.70; P: 0.025; S: 0.010; Si: 0.40;. I can't say anything about performance though. ~Kirby

 

[hkpokes_you]

I hear good things about 13c26 (and AEB-L which is essentially the same alloy); it was originally developed as a razor-blade steel and it's supposed to have an exceptionally fine grain size (similar to 52100) despite it's being a stainless ingot steel. With the Buck heat treatment I would think you'd see better edge retention for the 13c26 blade. If you ever wanted to ship the thing out for a custom heat treatment I know you could push the 13c26 blade much farther than the 420hc. As it stands though I think it's mostly just a difference in edge holding between them with factory heat treatments. Both steels are easy to sharpen and are known to take very fine edges. Both of them are inclined to roll rather than chip. Normally I'd say that the 13c26 blade would be the better one -- but the Buck 420hc isn't supposed to be bad stuff at all provided that you are willing to work a little more often on maintaining your edge.